The First Encounter
by TigerThief
Summary: What if April and the turtles met when they were only kids? Just drabbles focusing on the turtles' relationship with April that I will write whenever the mood strikes me. Cover image belongs to ralloonx on dA, used with permission.


**N/A: April is 7 years old, turtles are 5.**

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April O'Neil narrowed her eyes in concentration as she coloured in her picture. Her father had bought her a new colouring in book full of Disney princesses. Today, she was colouring in Ariel. She was determined to colour every single picture with nothing less than perfection. She may have only been a little girl of seven, but her perfectionism knew no bounds. She was so engrossed in shading Ariel's bright red locks that she almost didn't hear the faint tap from the corner of the small yard. April lifted her head towards the sound, but saw nothing. She was just about to shrug off the sound as her imagination, when she heard the tap again. It was louder this time, too. April got to her feet and brushed the grass from her knees. She glanced back at her apartment. She knew she should call out for her father, but she was in a totally enclosed yard, and there as definitely nobody other than herself in it. And whatever was making that tapping noise. Certain it was most likely a dog or cat, she made her way to the corner of the small yard. She glanced around, listening for the tapping noise again. She gasped and jumped away when she felt the solid lid of the manhole cover beneath her feet rattle. Taking a few steps back, she hesitantly found her voice.

"…Um, hello?" The sound of the rattling manhole lid ceased immediately. She took a deep breath and took a step forward. She waited by the manhole for what seemed like forever. Eventually, it seemed whatever was making the noise was long gone so April decided she'd return to her picture. She had taken no more than four steps when the manhole lid was abruptly pushed aside. She squealed in surprise. Pairs of bright blue and green eyes stared back at her, wide with shock. Before she could say anything, the eyes disappeared.

"April, honey? Are you alright?" April shook herself, realising her father must have heard her cry.

"I'm fine, Dad!" She called. April knelt down by the now half-open manhole.

"Please come back up. I know you're down there," She said. Ever so slowly, the emerald green eyes appeared once more. April blinked. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, but it was some sort of green creature. It looked very young, perhaps even younger than her. Behind the green eyed child the one with blue eyes also reappeared.

"Hi," She said, smiling warmly. The little green creatures blinked. She cocked her head to the side. Perhaps they were unable to speak?

"…Hi," The one with blue eyes said, very softly. The one with green eyes shot him a look before focusing his attention back to April.

"My name's April. What's yours?" The blue eyed one seemed to relax a little, but he was still obviously quite tense.

"M-My name's Leonardo. This is my little brother, Raphael," April waved at them. The one called Leonardo smiled shyly at her and waved back.

"You only have three fingers," April commented, looked down at her own hand. Leonardo nodded.

"We're turtles,"

"Mutants," April glanced at the one called Raphael. His intense green gaze seemed to burn into her very soul and yet, beneath their hard exterior April could see fear.

"Would you like to be friends?" April asked, flashing another of her warm smiles. The little turtle boys looked confused.

"You're… You're not afraid of us?" Leonardo asked, hesitantly. April shook her head.

"Why would I be? You're really nice. And I think you could use a friend," Leonardo glanced down.

"Our Papa always told us that human people would be afraid of us… That they were very dangerous and would try to hurt us," April slowly reached out toward him. Leonardo and Raphael visibly tensed, but relaxed again when she paused.

"There are a lot of bad people. My dad tells me to be careful too. But I promise I'm a good one!" Leonardo smiled at her.

"You are good. But… You defiantly won't tell anybody about us, right?"

"If you don't want me to, I won't. I promise," Leonardo glanced at her still outstretched hand, before slowly reached out and resting his small palm in hers.

"OK. I trust you, April," April grinned.

"What about you, Raphael?" The turtle in question looked thoughtful, but after an encouraging smile from his brother he too smiled.

"If Leo trusts you, I do too," April squealed with delight.

"Yay! You guys should come see my new colouring in book!" She cried, getting to her feet. The boys exchanged a brief look. Whether it was excitement, hesitance, guilt or a weird combination of the three, April wasn't sure.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"We weren't really supposed to come up here…" Leonardo started, looking embarrassed.

"Yeah, we've been gone for a while now and we're probably in a lot of trouble…" Raphael continued, also looking a bit sorry for himself.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! You'd better get back to your Papa!" April gasped, kneeling in front of them again.

"Sorry April,"

"Can we come back another time to play?"

"Of course! I want to see you guys again. Meet me here again tomorrow afternoon?" Leonardo and Raphael nodded.

"OK, I'll see you tomorrow then!" Leonardo and Raphael gave her a wave before lowering themselves down the manhole once again.

"Bye April!" Little echoes rang out.

"Bye Leonardo, bye Raphael!" She called down, before standing up again. She made her way back to her colouring in when she heard her father call out to her again.

"April?" He waved to her from the back door.

"Hi Dad!" She called as she skipped over. He lifted her off the ground in a soft embrace.

"Were you talking to somebody just now?" He asked. April nodded, quickly trying to think of a feasible excuse.

"I was talking to my new imaginary friends," She said, feeling a bit hopeless. He surely wouldn't buy it.

"Oh, of course. You know, I had an imaginary friend when I was your age. I called him Arnold," April giggled.

"That's a funny name, Daddy," Her father chuckled as he set her down.

"I suppose it is. Anyway, you can stay out for a little bit longer to colour if you like. I was thinking we'll go for a walk soon to grab some pizza for dinner," April perked up at that.

"OK, Daddy," She smiled, before settling herself down once again on the small patch of soft green grass. She picked up her red pencils and returning to Ariel's hair when she had a thought. Her new friends clearly lived in underground. She wondered what sort of food they ate? After some thought, she decided she would save a few slices of pizza from dinner for them tomorrow. She wasn't sure if turtles could actually eat pizza, but it was one of her favourite foods. Maybe they would like it too.


End file.
